| Tourney Name: | Champions Hockey League |
| Year: | 2021–22 |
| Num Teams: | 32 |
| Type: | other |
| Winners: |  Rögle BK |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second: |  Tappara |
| Games: | 123 |
| Goals: | 679 |
| Attendance: | 244498 |
| Scoring Leader: |  Ryan Lasch[1] |
| Points: | 18 |
| Mvp: | Frederik Tiffels[2] |
| Prevseason: | 2020–21 (cancelled) |
| Nextseason: | 2022–23 |
The 2021–22 Champions Hockey League was the seventh season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament. The tournament was competed by 32 teams, with qualification being on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a four-year league ranking), while seven "challenge leagues" were to be represented by one team each.
Swedish team Rögle BK won their first Champions Hockey League title, defeating Finnish team Tappara 2–1 in the final. This made Rögle BK the sixth Swedish side to win the European Trophy and the first team in the history of the tournament to win the title in its first season.[3] The title holders Frölunda HC were defeated by Rögle BK in the semi-finals with the total score 4–8.[4]
American right winger Ryan Lasch from Swedish team Frölunda HC became the top scorer for the fourth time, scoring 18 points.
A total of 32 teams from different European first-tier leagues participated in the 2021–22 Champions Hockey League. Besides the Continental Cup champions, 24 teams from the six founding leagues, as well as the national champions from Norway, Denmark, France, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Poland and Ukraine could qualify. The qualification for these places was set out in the rules as follows:[5]
For the ICE Hockey League teams were picked in this order:[5]
For the Deutsche Eishockey Liga teams were picked in this order:[6]
| Team | City/Area | League | Qualification | Participation | Previous best | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frölunda HC | Gothenburg | Swedish Hockey League | 2020 CHL winners | 7th | data-sort-value="1" | Champion | |
| Växjö Lakers | Växjö | Swedish Hockey League | Play-off champion | 6th | data-sort-value="2" | Final | |
| Rögle BK | Ängelholm | Swedish Hockey League | Regular season runners-up | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | First appearance | |
| Leksands IF | Leksand | Swedish Hockey League | Regular season third | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | First appearance | |
| Skellefteå AIK | Skellefteå | Swedish Hockey League | Regular season fourth | 6th | data-sort-value="3" | Semi-finals | |
| EV Zug | Zug | National League | Play-off champion | 7th | data-sort-value="4" | Quarter-finals | |
| HC Lugano | Lugano | National League | Regular season runners-up | 3rd | data-sort-value="5" | Round of 16 | |
| HC Fribourg-Gottéron | Fribourg | National League | Regular season third | 4rd | data-sort-value="3" | Semi-finals | |
| Lausanne HC | Lausanne | National League | Regular season fourth | 2nd | data-sort-value="4" | Quarter-finals | |
| ZSC Lions | Zürich | National League | Regular season fifth | 6th | data-sort-value="4" | Quarter-finals | |
| Eisbären Berlin | Berlin | Deutsche Eishockey Liga | Play-off champion | 5th | data-sort-value="5" | Round of 16 | |
| Adler Mannheim | Mannheim | Deutsche Eishockey Liga | South group winners | 6th | data-sort-value="5" | Round of 16 | |
| EHC Red Bull München | Munich | Deutsche Eishockey Liga | South group runners-up | 6th | data-sort-value="2" | Final | |
| Fischtown Pinguins | Bremerhaven | Deutsche Eishockey Liga | North group runners-up | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | First appearance | |
| Lukko | Rauma | Liiga | Play-off champion | 4th | data-sort-value="3" | Semi-finals | |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Liiga | Regular season runners-up | 6th | data-sort-value="4" | Quarter-finals | |
| TPS | Turku | Liiga | Regular season third | 6th | data-sort-value="4" | Quarter-finals | |
| Tappara | Tampere | Liiga | Regular season fourth | 7th | data-sort-value="5" | Round of 16 | |
 Oceláři Třinec | Třinec | Czech Extraliga | Play-off champion | 6th | data-sort-value="3" | Semi-finals | |
| HC Sparta Praha | Prague | Czech Extraliga | Regular season winners | 4th | data-sort-value="2" | Final | |
| BK Mladá Boleslav | Mladá Boleslav | Czech Extraliga | Regular season third | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | Group stage | |
 EC KAC | Klagenfurt | ICE Hockey League | Play-off champion | 4th | data-sort-value="7" | Group stage | |
 HC Bolzano | Bolzano | ICE Hockey League | Regular season winners | 3rd | data-sort-value="5" | Round of 16 | |
| Red Bull Salzburg | Salzburg | ICE Hockey League | Higher ranked semi-finalists | 6th | data-sort-value="3" | Semi-finals | |
| Cardiff Devils | Cardiff | Elite Ice Hockey League | 2019–20 regular season winners | 4th | data-sort-value="7" | Group stage | |
 Dragons de Rouen | Rouen | Ligue Magnus | Regular season winners | 3rd | data-sort-value="7" | Round of 16 | |
 Frisk Asker Ishockey | Asker | Eliteserien | Regular season winners | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | Group stage | |
 JKH GKS Jastrzębie | Jastrzębie-Zdrój | Polska Hokej Liga | Play-off champion | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | First appearance | |
| Rungsted Ishockey | Rungsted | Metal Ligaen | Play-off champion | 2nd | data-sort-value="7" | Group stage | |
| SønderjyskE Ishockey | Vojens | Metal Ligaen | 2019–20 Continental Cup winner | 3rd | data-sort-value="7" | Group stage | |
 HC Donbass | Donetsk | Ukrainian Hockey League | Wild card[7] | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | First appearance | |
 Slovan Bratislava | Bratislava | Tipos extraliga | Wild card[8] | 1st | data-sort-value="8" | First appearance |
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[9]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | Groups A-F | 19 May 2021 | 26–27 August 2021 | |
| Groups G-H | 9–10 September 2021 | ||||
| Matchday 2 | Groups A-F | 28–29 August 2021 | |||
| Groups G-H | 11–12 September 2021 | ||||
| Matchday 3 | 2–3 September 2021 | ||||
| Matchday 4 | 4–5 September 2021 | ||||
| Matchday 5 | 5–6 October 2021 | ||||
| Matchday 6 | 12–13 October 2021 | ||||
| Playoff | Round of 16 | 15 October 2021[10] | 16–17 November 2021 | 23–24 November 2021 | |
| Quarter-finals | 7–8 December 2021 | 14 December 2021 | |||
| Semi-finals | 4–5 January 2022 | 11–12 January 2022 | |||
| Final | 1 March 2022 | ||||
For the group stage, the teams were drawn into 8 groups of 4 teams. Each team played home and away against every other team for a total of six games. The best two teams qualified to the round of 16.
The draw of the group stage took place on 19 May 2021.[11]
Due to a scheduling conflict caused by the 2022 Winter Olympics final qualification tournament being held on 26–29 August 2021, eight teams from countries participating in the Olympic qualification (Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Poland, Ukraine) were allocated into the pot 5 and drawn into two separate groups of four which did not play their games on the specified dates. There was no league protection for the teams from these two groups. The other 24 teams (from five remaining founding leagues as well as teams from Belarus and the United Kingdom as top two challenger leagues and 2019–20 IIHF Continental Cup winners SønderjyskE Ishockey) were allocated into four pots and drawn by the standard procedure into six groups of four.[12]
| width=20% | Pot 1 | width=20% | Pot 2 | width=20% | Pot 3 | width=20% | Pot 4 | width=20% | Pot 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frölunda HC Växjö Lakers EV Zug Eisbären Berlin Lukko Oceláři Třinec | Rögle BK HC Lugano Adler Mannheim HIFK HC Sparta Praha Leksands IF | HC Fribourg-Gottéron EHC Red Bull München TPS BK Mladá Boleslav Skellefteå AIKLausanne HC | Fischtown Pinguins Tappara ZSC Lions  HC Yunost MinskCardiff Devils SønderjyskE Ishockey | EC KAC HC Bolzano Red Bull Salzburg Dragons de Rouen Frisk Asker Ishockey JKH GKS Jastrzębie Rungsted Ishockey HC Donbass |
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win in regulation time, 2 points for a win in overtime, 1 point for a loss in overtime, 0 points for a loss in regulation time). If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (see 8.4.4. Tie breaking formula group stage standings):[13] [14]
The knockout phase involves the 16 teams which qualify as winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage.
| Group | width=210 | Winners (seeded in round of 16 draw) | width=210 | Runners-up (unseeded in round of 16 draw) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | HC Sparta Praha | Växjö Lakers | ||
| B | Frölunda HC | ZSC Lions | ||
| C | Lukko | Adler Mannheim | ||
| D | Rögle BK | EHC Red Bull München | ||
| E | Tappara | Skellefteå AIK | ||
| F | HC Fribourg-Gottéron | Leksands IF | ||
| G | EC KAC | Dragons de Rouen | ||
| H | Red Bull Salzburg | HC Bolzano |
In each round except the final, the teams played two games and the aggregate score decided which team advanced. As a rule, the first leg was hosted by the team who had the inferior record in the tournament with the second leg being played on the home ice of the other team. If aggregate score was tied, a sudden death overtime followed. If the overtime was scoreless, the team who won the shoot out competition advanced.
The final was played on the home ice of the team who had the better record in the tournament.
The eight group winners and the eight second-placed teams advanced to the round of 16. The teams were divided into two seeding groups and group winners were randomly drawn against runners-up. Teams who had faced each other in the group stage could not be drawn against each other in the round of 16.
The draw for the entire playoff was held on 15 October 2021 in Zürich.[15] The first legs were played on 16 and 17 November with return legs played on 23 and 24 November 2021.
|}
First legs were played on 7 December, return legs were played on 14 December 2021.|}
First legs were played on 4 January, return legs were played on 11 January and 1 February 2022.|}
The following players are leading the league in points.[16]
| Player | Team | data-sort-type="number" style="width: 2em;" | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Frölunda HC | 12 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 2 | +5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 17.39% | |
| Red Bull München | 10 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 0 | +9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 26.67% | ||
| | Rögle BK | 13 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 8 | +1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 23.81% | |
 | Red Bull München | 10 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 17.65% | |
| | Rögle BK | 11 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 0 | +5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 19.23% | |
| | Frölunda HC | 12 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 30.43% | |
| | Tappara | 12 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 0 | +5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 10.00% | |
| | Rögle BK | 13 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 4 | +2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 10.53% | |
| | Red Bull München | 11 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 16 | +9 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 25.00% | |
| | Rögle BK | 12 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 14 | +8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 25.00% |
The following goaltenders are leading the league in save percentage, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes.[17]
| Player | Team | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | HC Fribourg-Gottéron | 5 | 4 | 0 | 126 | 4 | 96,92% | 0,94 | 2 | 255 | |
| | Lukko | 5 | 3 | 2 | 111 | 6 | 94,87% | 1,18 | 1 | 305 | |
| | HC Sparta Praha | 6 | 4 | 1 | 159 | 9 | 94,64% | 1,58 | 0 | 357 | |
 | Dragons de Rouen | 10 | 4 | 5 | 388 | 22 | 94,63% | 2,21 | 1 | 597 | |
| | HC Bolzano | 4 | 3 | 1 | 145 | 9 | 94,16% | 2,25 | 0 | 240 |